Ensuring people can safely access and enjoy Staffordshire’s 4,500km of rights of way and use its 6,000km of roads, continues to be important to local people and the county council.
While nationally there is less money from the government, the council has more demand for the support it provides, especially from the growing, ageing population. The county council has to balance what it can spend on maintaining small highways amenities and rights of way against the need to spend more on the care and support of the most vulnerable people in its communities.
Staffordshire County Council needs to focus more on its statutory duties and ensure that taxpayers’ money is spent in a way that makes the most difference to most people.
So it needs to think of different ways of working together to keep highways amenities and rights of way safe, accessible and looking good.
- More than half of the county council’s budget is ring-fenced and can only be spent on specific initiatives – such as schools and the development of business parks to help boost the economy.
- It has just £490m per year to spend on everything else, including: libraries, waste management, trading standards, looking after vulnerable children and older people, education services, administration and transport and road repairs, which includes the highways and rights of way network.
- However, more than 60% of that budget is spent on looking after older people, vulnerable adults and children. With the age of the population and the number of children in care rising, this 60% will keep increasing in the future.
- The council has reduced its costs by almost £200m per year in the last seven years.
- By 2020/21 the county council will not receive a government grant at all. Services will only be funded by local council tax and business rates, so we need to continue making savings and finding new ways to do things.
More about Staffordshire County Council’s income, expenditure and priorities
Highways and rights of way budgets
Services across the county council have been required to find different ways of working to support the funds needed to support Staffordshire’s vulnerable people.
This year, £14.5m is available for day-to-day expenditure on highways, which includes funding for small highways amenities.
Although the county council regularly bids for external funding, with budgets reducing we need to focus funding on our statutory responsibilities.
From April 2018, the rights of way budget will reduce by a third.
The new role of the county council
Rather than delivering services, Staffordshire County Council’s new role is about supporting communities to come together to co-ordinate their efforts, recognize their strengths and empower them to solve important issues in their community.
The future of public services in Staffordshire depends on all of us working together. Whilst the council must focus its limited resources on its statutory responsibilities, there are plenty of opportunities for the local community to carry out those small and often aesthetic tasks that many people value.
There are a number of existing volunteer and funding programmes that can help. The county council are asking for the views of local councils on priorities for volunteer programmes to support the maintenance of the rights of way network.
Contact us
Please contact us to talk through any ideas or enquiries you have – we are here to help.